King Elk Forest the sun goes down

@Piety - set for 8/26, mid afternoon

The trees here were old and beautiful. Rain cascaded between the breaks in the canopy, falling onto muddied ground. It had been raining for a while, it seemed, based on the flourishing vegetation and the soaked ground beneath her feet. Neven didn't mind that, of course. Rain was beautiful, a part of life, helped things grow. 

What she did mind, however, was her lack of traveling companion.

The brute was supposed to be beside her, not wandering off on his own. There was a reason she'd come with him on this excursion, and she did not like being abandoned, thank you very much. 

"Piety Montserrat!" she called loudly, her voice carrying surprisingly well through the dense trees. But that was what Neven was good at - yelling. And, just possibly being a little bit clingy as well. "Has anyone seen a Piety Montserrat? Looks like a bear - a biiiig one!" She waited a good two-point-five seconds after the echoing of her voice halted to begin again. "'Cause he's got about five seconds before I leave his ass in the middle of this rainforest!"

It was an empty threat, of course - she'd never actually leave him. But neither he nor anyone who might be in earshot needed to know that. She had an image to maintain, after all.

The rain came down in a steady drumbeat, saturating everything in its path down to the roots, and turning the forested land into a bed of soft sponge. These conditions were hard enough to hunt in, yet Piety had managed to get close to a hare.

He could only watch irritably as a familiar yowling sent his prey careening back to its waterlogged den.  

The swart titan rose from his crouch, and gave his sodden coat a quick shake. He considered -- not for the first time, mind you -- the act of abandoning the irrepressible wolfdog to her own loudmouthed devices, but these thoughts somehow did not deter him from padding in her direction, grumbling to himself all the while.

Neven was easy to find, for him anyway, and the mountain wolf stood back from her a ways; fixing her with a default frown. "You owe me a rabbit -- a fat one," he snorted, padding closer to greet her fully, sweeping over her dark ears with an expectant sniff. "What do you want?"

Ah, there he was! The lumbering form of her companion meandered its way through the trees, his rumbly voice familiar as he approached. Just as his frown was default for him, the cheeky smile that stretched across her muzzle was default in return. Something of an I know I fucked up, please forgive me, I'm sorry I made you lose your rabbit. Of course, what would come out of her mouth was not quite so apologetic.

"What, is it wrong for me to not want to be all by myself in this dark, spooky forest?" Yeah, oops, not an apology at all. She should probably fix that. "I'll catch you two rabbits. Don't worry about it." The mottled wolfdog approached him and flicked her ears at the sniffing, and stretched her head up to lightly bump the bottom of his chin like a cat. 

The question of if she'd succeed at her hunt would remain to be seen. Though she certainly wasn't the worst. 

In all honesty, she really hadn't enjoyed the solitude and dreariness of the forest by herself. "I really did want you around, though. With all the rain and fog, it's kinda dark. Figured it would be easier to stick together if we actually, y'know, stuck together." Icy blue eyes fixated on his dark brown. "Maybe we could hunt. I am kinda hungry."

A disbelieving rumble sounded in Piety's throat at the promise of two small meals for the price of one. He did not doubt her skills, but her commitment to the project was another matter. He was sure that after spending a few hours catching the first rabbit, she'd feed him a hearty IOU instead of a second.

His tail wagged slowly all the same.

Irritation aside, he was always satisfied when he returned to Neven and found her safe; blue eyes bright. Her whinging only meant that she was healthy, if not bored. "I would have already brought you something to eat, if you'd ever learn to keep it down," the pitch obelisk drawled. He felt no eagerness about returning to the brunt of the rain, but he was not yet spent -- as a creature made for long distances.

"I passed over a few deer-paths back there," he said, motioning eastward. "It is more of them than usual in this area, from what I can tell. Likely to be a number of fawns in the herd..." This was Piety's way of convincing himself the trip could be worth it, though it was reasonable to assume that his eager companion would have insisted on going even without a good lead to follow.

"Shall we?" Piety motioned for Neven to take the lead in their foxtrot.

Neven grinned when she saw his tail wag. It was always nice to know that Piety wasn't mad at her for real, even if sometimes he acted like he was super grumpy. And yeah, she probably only would end up catching one rabbit, but there was no way she was gonna make him share it. The second would've probably been for her anyway.

"In all the time you've known me, when have I once ever kept it down?" Neven inquired, tilting her head and offering him a smile. She was loud, obnoxious, annoying, but she was fully aware of all of those things. Normally, it was out of spite, but for Piety? Things were different.

Her ears angled forward. She was not as observant as he, so she had not noticed the tracks. But deer did sound good right now - even a fawn would be more food than a rabbit each. 

A huff of laughter escaped her throat as she brushed past him. "I knew there was a reason I kept you around," she teased, flashing a bright smile at her companion. After this long, surely he knew that her bravado was just that.

Neven placed her nose near the ground, trailing after a few sets of tracks. This was something she was good at, she liked to think. The mottled wolfdog picked up on a scent rather quickly, leading them both after the deer. Luckily, it seemed as though they were nearby.

Piety liked when Neven put her nose to the ground. It meant she was all business and, more importantly, it meant she wasn't talking. The Montserrat followed her closely -- loyally -- and trusted her to take them right where they needed to be.

Though, at first, it had been a strain on Piety to endure Neven's company, they had become quite close in the weeks since hotfooting it away from the territory of Kethis, and he found her to be a steadfast confidant -- for all her bravado and grandstanding.

He understood where her need to stand out came from: a lifetime of working twice as hard only to get none of the recognition she deserved from her peers. Despite being a half-breed, she hunted as good as the rest of them and kept up just as well. He had never understood the pack's othering of her, and didn't care to know by now.

The rain started to come down harder, but it wasn't long before the wet trails they followed began to freshen and strengthen; leading them unto a well-protected meadow that housed a large herd of doe, their very young children, and a single stag to oversee them all. Surrounded by bushes, it would be difficult to approach the herd without making too much noise, but the sound of a hard rain muffled their steps, and they wouldn't need to do much sneaking besides.

Fawns, especially the newborns, were prone to be curled up and concealed in the tall grass instead of accompanying their mothers to forage. Rooting one out didn't sound like too much of a task. Piety prowled about and looked out into the crowd of rain-soaked browsers, only hoping to spot an appropriate target before chasing the herd away.

Though Neven was a loudmouth at the best of times (and insolence at the worst), she was determined in her work. Especially when Piety was involved - the man was likely her truest friend, and even if she might get on his nerves from time to time, she didn't want to let him down. She wouldn't let him down. The wolfdog wouldn't betray all of that trust he put in her. 

The meadow came up quickly - the herd was large, prolific. Plenty of food just laying around for the taking, really. But they had to be careful in their selection.

Icy blue eyes scanned the fawns, and zeroed in on one in particular that stood up and wobbled unevenly toward its mother. One of its back legs was twisted and malformed - it looked painful, and it  couldn't put weight on it. 

"That one?" Neven asked, gesturing to the weakest fawn. It wasn't particularly large, but it would be the easiest to just rush in and grab. Preserving their own energy was important, as well.

Though scouring over the herd with a gaze full of hungry intent -- eager to spot the most vulnerable among them -- it was Neven who would zero in on their prey first, and direct his attention towards it. The behemoth started to crackle with a powerful, unseen energy, and he gave his hunting partner a stiff nod. Agreed.

With their current target, they could both make a charge and catch up to it without much of an issue. There was little need here for an ambush or stealth; the wolves needed only to create a great enough panic to separate the adults from their children.

Locked in firmly on their chosen prey, Piety began to barrel in towards the crowd of deer. A frightful snarl erupted from him, and the hoofed assemblage scattered as he snapped his jaws murderously after them, brandishing his teeth like cleavers. The wolf was almost immediately thrown off course, trying to avoid the awkward leap of one doe -- who soared over him and flew south from the terror -- and he whirled around in an attempt to regain his course. He was now less aware of Neven, but he knew she was there: surging for their quarry like a dark arrow that always aimed true.

This was a cakewalk. Fortunately, deer were easy to frighten, and they bounded and ran in circles and jumped over the wolves that were hunting them. The separation was quick, though it was a bit harder to get the target's mother to leave him than Neven would have liked. It was making horrible sounds, rearing up on its hind legs and trying to frighten the wolves off, away from the fawn. 

But it wouldn't stay for long. 

Neven wasn't great against prey that was this much larger than her - she wasn't intimidating enough - but she was quick. The wolfdog sprinted around the doe, aiming to tackle the fawn to the ground. She trusted that Piety would frighten the mother away.

Returning to his sworn duty as Neven's mighty shadow, Piety came surging up quickly behind her, and narrowed in on a brave doe rearing back to protect the hapless child. It was a misguided love -- egregious, even. A love that would leave her at the mercy of a charging bull-wolf, as she tried unsuccessfully to ward away the swift demon hounding her feeble fawn. Her intended foe dodged heartily, and before she could pose to strike again, the Montserrat opened smoky jaws to pierce her hindflesh like a hot knife into butter.

The doe bellowed and bucked, throwing off her attacker with fearful strength. Mind blanketed by flight, the deer turned to escape without another thought allowed to linger on what she was abandoning.

Piety recovered from the ground in almost the same instance. Bruised, but far from defeated. He rounded on Neven's position, and descended with the intention of helping her suffocate their bleating meal.